Tuesday Ten: 190: 2014 and upcoming music

To open each new year, I’ve for some years now posted a rundown of new music coming your way. This year is no exception, but it seems that there is less music coming that I might have expected. But then, I’m probably missing a few things! Anyway – this year, in addition to the full list further down the page, I’ve picked five albums I’m really looking forward to hearing.

One album I’m really looking forward to in 2014 is from LA-area industrial terrorists 3TEETH. They made quite a splash last year with a number of strikingly different, hyper-dense tracks that owe a bit of a debt to the freakiest end of Skinny Puppy’s material (not to mention FLA and a few other nineties-industrial artists), but don’t let their influences suggest that this is just another throwback. Quite the opposite – this is a very modern, very now take on the sound, complete with awesome visual media that compliments the chaotic electronics perfectly. An entire album of this will be very interesting indeed.

Also, look out for an interview with the band on amodelofcontrol.com in the next week.

The fact that Nothing But Love – on the album but released last year on Dependence 2013, of course – was the amodelofcontrol.com top track of 2013 is perhaps a pointer of just how much I’m looking forward to this album. Despite the lengthy gap since Double Crosser (which came out in 2006), not a lot appears to have changed, not that it needs to. It is still the pristine electronic pop music with a pitch-black edge, with intelligent lyrics and melodies to die for. The first essential album of 2014? I really, really hope so.

The first hint of a new album – again, their first album proper in some years – came with the S EP late last year, which proved to have some of the most satisfying tracks by Laibach in a long, long time. Interestingly though, it seems change is afoot again in this restless band, which a poppier, funkier edge showing through in the tracks released so far, but never without their trademark aloof politics and arch comment. Spectre should be a fascinating album.

It’s going to be a busy year for rising stars Legend. First there is the delayed split 7″ with fellow Icelanders Sólstafir (you can hear their exquisite cover of Runaway Trainhere – quite what Legend have done with Fjara I can’t wait to hear), then apparently a remix album (of tracks from their amazing debut Fearless, that I’ve still not stopped listening to yet), then finally a new album much later in the year. Their sound – a much-more-goth Depeche Mode at their most epic, at points – has more hooks that Icelandic fishermen, and in tracks like Sister or City, displays a populist touch that could see them outgrow the goth/industrial scene that has taken them to heart very quickly indeed if the second album is as good. In the meantime, I’m looking forward to finally seeing their much-praised live show in Toronto in May.

After making quite a splash with his first album under the Be My Enemy name, Phil Barry’s latest project doesn’t have a great deal to prove, perhaps, with a second album. That debut managed the delicate balancing act of referencing his best known work (Cubanate, of course), while including other elements that made the album stand alone. Obviously, it drew in a lot of old fans, of course, but that was to be expected – but crucially gigs so far have shown a younger audience that might be expected. As for the new material, what was unveiled at the Slimelight show in August was impressive, making me that keener to hear the final results. Make it soon, Phil!

Here is the full round-up of albums either confirmed or expected this year (so far). Obviously things can and do change, so this won’t be gospel. But it gives an idea – and feel free to add others in the comments if you know more.